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Ju-on: The Grudge 2
Ju-on: The Grudge 2 (呪怨2じゅおん2) is a 2003 Japanese horror film written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. It is the fourth installment in the ''Ju-on'' film series and the second to be released theatrically. As the grudge curse spreads all around, the spiteful spirits of Kayako and Toshio find a chance to live once again through the pregnancy of a cursed woman. Actress Noriko Sakai stars. Ju-on: The Grudge 2 was nominated for Best Film at the 2003 Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival.http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000155/2003 Cast *Noriko Sakai as Kyoko Harase *Chiharu Niiyama as Tomoka Miura *Kei Horie as Noritaka Yamashita *Yui Ichikawa as Chiharu *Ayumu Saito as Masashi Ishikura *Emi Yamamoto as Megumi Obayashi *Erika Kuroishi as Hiromi *Kaoru Mizuki as Aki Harase *Shinobu Yuki as Kaoru Ishikura *Takako Fuji as Kayako Saeki *Yuya Ozeki as Toshio Saeki *Shingo Katsurayama as Keisuke Okuni Plot Kyoko (京子) Horror movie actress Kyoko Harase and her fiancé Masashi are driving home late one night; Kyoko is pregnant with the couple's child. Masashi suddenly brakes and says he hit something. He gets out of the car to inspect and sees a dead black cat. Kyoko peers out and sees a pair of pale legs running towards the carcass. Masashi decides to ignore the mess and move on. On resuming driving, Kyoko suddenly notices a pale-skinned boy staring at them from under the steering wheel. She screams, alerting Masashi as well, and he screams too as he tries to free the wheel from the boy's grasp. The car swerves and eventually crashes. When Kyoko comes to, she notices that Masashi is unconscious and bleeding from the forehead, and blood is also oozing from her womb and trickling down her legs. In hospital, Kyoko learns that she has lost her unborn child while Masashi is still in a coma. Kyoko enters Masashi's room and is shocked to see the ghost boy, who runs up to her and touches her stomach before disappearing. She suspects that Toshio may be a brother who died in childhood, so she asks her mother at home, but is told she is an only child. Kyoko then concludes the boy to be the spirit of her unborn baby. Some time later, Kyoko stars in a movie as a teacher in a haunted school. Chiharu is present as an extra, acting as one of Kyoko's students. Chiharu stares at Kyoko's stomach and screams in fright, collapsing to the floor, much to the worry and confusion of the cast and crew. Kyoko visits a clinic, where she learns that her baby is actually alive and in good condition. She decides against telling her mother about the development when she reaches home. She falls asleep and wakes up to encounter the ghost boy again when she slides open a door to a room. After the spirit disappears, Kyoko tries to wake Aki up and is horrified to discover that her mother is dead. Tomoka (朋香) Tomoka is the ambitious host of a popular TV horror show called Heart-Stopping Backgrounds. One night at home, while rehearsing a script, she hears thumping noises from a wall. She accidentally spills her drink on the script and briefly sees it covered in blood spatter and strange doodles. The next day in the dressing room, Tomoka meets her friend Megumi, the show's hairstylist. The two discuss an upcoming special episode, in which famous horror movie actress Kyoko will be guest-starring. The show's director Keisuke tells them that the episode will be shot in a haunted house in Nerima and will be focusing on the house's history. When Tomoka returns to her apartment, in the dark, she sees a person hovering from the ceiling. Her boyfriend Noritaka arrives shortly after to join her. Tomoka anxiously waits for the thumping noises to start again while Noritaka teases her. Noritaka initially dismisses Tomoka's concerns, but then he hears the sounds himself. The clock shows 12:27 AM. The following day, Noritaka calls Tomoka's cell phone but she does not answer. He then leaves her a voice message but is interrupted by a weird death rattle noise and so he hangs up. He visits Tomoka's apartment and sees her from the back in the room. The camera shifts to the front and shows Tomoka shivering with fright. Just then, Noritaka receives a call from Tomoka, who tells him she is on her way back. Noritaka is shocked and looks back at the room, which has gone dark. He enters cautiously and hears a death rattle sound as a curtain of black hair gradually descends on him from behind. When Tomoka returns home, she is horrified to see Noritaka hanging from the ceiling by a thick length of black hair. She looks up and sees the entire ceiling covered by a web of black hair. Suddenly, a ghostly boy appears and pushes Noritaka's body to swing towards the wall, making the same thumping noises she heard, and also knock Tomoka's cup over, spilling the drink as before. A female spirit with long black hair descends upside down from behind Tomoka, emitting a death rattle before strangling Tomoka with her hair and hanging Tomoka beside Noritaka. The clock shows 12:27 AM. Megumi (恵) Megumi is helping Kyoko prepare for the shoot. Keisuke explains the scene to Kyoko, who asks if murders really happened in the house, and Keisuke tells her the history of the house. Before the shooting commences, Megumi notices a strange, dark and wet stain on the floor, which unsettles her. The show starts with the host Tomoka giving her commentary on the house and then introducing Kyoko as the special guest. While filming in the house, the sound technician Sooma is startled by a bizarre noise, supposedly coming from Kyoko's microphone. This interrupts the shoot for the day. A while later, in the garden, the team discusses the incident over lunch while Kyoko and Megumi sit slightly further away from the group, having their own conversation. Kyoko notices that Megumi has attached a lot of omamori (lucky charms) to her cell phone, and spots one Safe Birth Amulet. Megumi, who already sensed that Kyoko is pregnant, presents the amulet to her as a gift. Keisuke approaches them and annoys Megumi when he asks her if she didn't sense anything unusual because he was disappointed that the house is seemingly not scary. Megumi walks away and Keisuke follows suit, leaving Kyoko behind. Unseen by Kyoko and the others, a flashback scene occurs in the room right behind Kyoko, showing a boy at the dining table, being served by his mother. Kyoko accidentally spills her drink and catches the boy's attention, and he suddenly appears standing behind her, without her knowing. Megumi senses something and looks in Kyoko's direction but sees nothing. Megumi and Kyoko are in the same room upstairs they were in before the shoot, and they both notice the wet stain on the floor and both think it's creepy. After the shoot is finished, Tomoka is speaking to Noritaka on the phone when the line goes dead. Megumi suddenly remembers she left her purse in the room upstairs and goes back to retrieve it just as Keisuke is about to lock up the house and leave. While waiting for Megumi, Keisuke explores the living room and finds a damaged photograph of a family. He also finds a diary belonging to someone called "Kayako" and flips through it briefly before throwing it back to the ground. Upstairs, Megumi is shocked to see that the wet stain has become bigger and even has weird scratch marks around it. She runs down in fear and quickly leaves with Keisuke. Later the crew return to the studio. Megumi is in the dressing room, setting up wigs and combing them. In the video room, Keisuke is watching the footage they shot for that day when he falls asleep. The video continues playing until the part where Sooma heard the bizarre noise, and Kyoko is seen transforming into a woman with long dark hair. The ghost boy appears and slowly walks towards the camera. By the time Keisuke wakes up, the video has ended. As he walks out, a ghostly woman is seen in the shadows behind him. In the dressing room, Megumi thinks she saw the curtains behind her flutter and looks back but sees nothing. She senses that something is not right and investigates. One of the wigs suddenly falls off the stand to the ground. She picks it up and starts tidying it. She continues exploring the area behind the curtains, still holding the wig in her hand, and is about to draw the curtains when she spots something. The dark, wet stain she saw in the house is on the floor. The wig suddenly develops a life of its own and twists in her hand. She drops the wig in horror and it starts moving towards her on the ground. Terrified, Megumi backs onto the damp patch, clawing at the floor, and this reminds her of the scratch marks beside the stain. A flashback shows the origin of the wet patch - it was formed when the dying Kayako was dumped in a bag, bleeding, twitching and clawing at the floor. Megumi starts bleeding from various parts of her body and her clothes become bloodstained. The wig moves until it reaches the dark patch and gradually transforms into Kayako, who makes a death rattle as she reaches for Megumi. Keisuke (圭介) Kyoko is staring at the amulet Megumi gave her. She looks at her mother's shrine and stretches her legs to sleep when her feet seems to hit something. She looks under the covers but sees nothing. Then as she lies down under the dining table she senses her mother's presence so she gets up and sees her mother sleeping under the table perpendicular to her. Her mother disappears as Kyoko reaches out to touch her. The next day when Kyoko is visiting Masashi, who is still in coma, in the hospital, her amulet drops to the floor. As she moves to pick it up, Masashi's hand suddenly grabs her hand to stop her. Kyoko and Masashi's mother call out to him, thinking that he has recovered, but he doesn't respond. The three of them are later seen on the rooftop - Masashi has regained consciousness and is seated on a wheelchair but is still in a trance. As Masashi's mother leaves the couple alone, Kyoko takes Masashi's hand and presses it against her stomach, asking him what she should do about their baby. Masashi suddenly experiences a seizure and moves his hand away, scaring Kyoko. Just then Keisuke comes to look for Kyoko, and they chat in the lounge. He tells her that after shooting the scene in the house that day, many members of the team have encountered mishaps: Kyoko got into the car accident with Masashi and her mother died mysteriously not long after; Tomoka and her boyfriend hung themselves at home, and their bodies were found two days later; Keisuke heard Megumi screaming in the dressing room but did not see her when he went in; the cameraman Watanabe and sound technician Sooma cannot be contacted. Keisuke drives Kyoko home and she tells him that she wishes to leave the show. As she reaches her door, she sees Megumi standing nearby and is shocked. Keisuke notices something and gets out of the car. He also sees Megumi, who quickly rushes into Kyoko's house and locks the door. Kyoko and Keisuke enter the house together and call out for Megumi but cannot find her. While Kyoko is searching elsewhere, Keisuke suddenly sees Megumi behind a screen near the dining table and calls out to her. She is trying to pass him a book. He switches on the light and is so shocked to see her suddenly standing just inches away from him that he falls back. Megumi disappears and the book drops to the floor. Kyoko comes and is surprised to see Keisuke staring at the book. When Kyoko picks up the book, she sees the same dark, wet stain beneath it. The book turns out to be Kayako's diary, which Keisuke saw in the haunted house. Keisuke brings Kyoko to the station and shows her his research binder on the Nerima house. She sees newspaper reports on the Saeki family murders and sees photographs of the victims - Kayako and Toshio. She recognizes Toshio as the ghostly boy she saw earlier. Keisuke remains in the station while Kyoko goes home. He is making photocopies of Kayako's diary and sits beside the machine and starts making some notes. The machine suddenly starts running on its own and produces black pages initially, but as Keisuke continues observing, he sees a woman's face in the page, becoming clearer copy after copy, and the machine starts emitting a death rattle sound. He switches off the machine, grabs his documents, and is preparing to leave when he senses something and stops. The face of Kayako can be seen in a window as Keisuke dashes out of the room. Back in Kyoko's house, she is sleeping on the table, and the damp patch in front of her has become bigger. The blood-stained ghost of Megumi slowly crawls out from the patch and reaches for Kyoko. However before Megumi can touch Kyoko, the spirit of Kyoko's mother grabs Kyoko's hand and wakes her, and Megumi disappears. Kyoko looks at her mother's shrine and recalls Masashi grabbing her hand when she was about to pick up the amulet that day. The next day, Kyoko visits the haunted house again and enters from the back because the front door is locked. While exploring the house, she hears noises and sees a schoolgirl banging on the front door and calling out in despair to her friend outside the house. She screams when she turns back and sees Kyoko and becomes more desperate to get out. Kyoko feels a pain in her stomach and screams when she looks down and sees something moving inside her abdomen. She falls to the ground and sees Kayako creeping down the staircase. As Kayako reaches the bottom of the stairs, she turns and stares at Kyoko, who screams and faints. Chiharu (千春) Chiharu was Izumi Toyama's friend. Chiharu is in the second floor of the haunted house. She sees a dark, wet stain on the floor. She hears a thud from above and hears something moving in the ceiling before it drops inside the closet. She backs away in fear and sees the ghost boy Toshio standing in the doorway. She screams and dashes out of the room, falling as she runs down the stairs. She suddenly wakes up in her bedroom and realizes that it was a nightmare. Later in the day, after school, Chiharu's friend Hiromi invites her to act as an extra in a horror movie. Chiharu suddenly finds herself on the staircase in the haunted house again. Behind her, the door to the room upstairs opens and Kayako is seen crawling out, making the eerie death rattle. Chiharu bangs the front door repeatedly, shouting for help. Just then she wakes up and realizes that it was a nightmare again. While filming, Chiharu rushes in together with other actors as part of the scene. She sees something and screams louder than expected. The actress playing the ghost gets annoyed with her and scolds her. Chiharu keeps staring at Kyoko in fear and Kyoko is puzzled. Chiharu sees Toshio touching Kyoko's stomach, and closes her eyes. When she opens them she finds herself back at the front door in the haunted house again. She bangs the door in despair and calls out to Hiromi, who is outside, for help. However, the door is stopped by a security chain and cannot be opened. Behind Chiharu, the spirit of Kayako is creeping down the staircase. Chiharu reaches out through the gap in the door and pulls off the chain Hiromi is wearing on her neck. She wakes up again to find herself in a van. Hiromi and the crew tell Chiharu that she passed out on the set after the scene. Hiromi expresses concern and tells Chiharu to calm down. Chiharu warns Hiromi never to enter that house and rushes out of the van. Chiharu runs into a toilet cubicle and locks herself inside. Hiromi catches up with her and tells her to open the door. Chiharu closes her eyes and sees herself back in the haunted house again. Her surroundings keep alternating between the haunted house and the cubicle. She glances up at the ceiling and sees Kayako staring down at her. She flees from the washroom and accidentally trips and knocks a ball out of a boy's hands. She looks back at the ball, which changes into Toshio's head and stares at her. She screams in horror and runs away. Suddenly, she hears Hiromi screaming and she turns back to see her body lying lifeless on the road, with Toshio squatting beside. Hiromi is trying to wake her, so Chiharu goes back and touches Hiromi's shoulder. Hiromi feels something and looks back but sees nothing. Chiharu realizes that she has become a ghost and she ascends while watching Hiromi attempting to revive her dead body. A pale arm is seen wrapped around Chiharu's body as she rises into the sky. Chiharu suddenly finds herself in the haunted house at the front door. Hiromi is shouting to her as she tries to pull open the door. Just then, Hiromi sees Kayako beside Chiharu through the gap and is startled and backs away. Kayako pulls Chiharu in and the door slams shut. Hiromi then finds herself back in the park, holding Chiharu's body in her arms. She sees Chiharu holding a chain exactly like the one she wears on her neck, as if Chiharu really snatched off her chain in the dream. Kayako (伽椰子) Keisuke is walking towards the haunted house. He hears voices and sees Hiromi backing away from the front door in fear and the door slams shut. Hiromi dashes off as Keisuke looks on in bewilderment. He enters the house and finds Kyoko lying motionless in the hallway. Keisuke takes Kyoko to the hospital, where she starts having labor pains. In the operating room, the monitors show that Kyoko is having low blood pressure and a low pulse, so the doctors predict a high chance of miscarriage. As they prepare to perform a Caesarean section, Kyoko experiences contractions and the baby starts coming out. At the same time, on the rooftop, Masashi, in a wheelchair, begins to have seizures. When the baby is finally born, the lights in the operating room start flashing erratically and the doctors and nurses seem to be taken aback by the sight of the infant. They all collapse to the ground in fear and start backing up against the walls. Kyoko wonders what is happening and glances down, only to see Toshio looking at the baby and excitedly calling out "Okaasan!" (Japanese for "mother") Kyoko faints while the doctors and nurses die of shock. On the rooftop, Masashi's wheelchair is seen lying on its side, and his coat is lying on the pipe before the protective grille (a sign that he may have jumped off the building). Keisuke, who has been waiting outside the operating room, bursts in and sees the lights off. While approaching Kyoko, he trips and is horrified to see all the doctors and nurses dead. He hears a baby's wailing, which gradually turns into an eerie death rattle. He collapses to the floor and watches in terror as a full-grown Kayako, covered in blood, crawls out from Kyoko's womb and creeps towards him. When Kyoko regains consciousness in the operating room, she hears a baby's wailing and sees something covered in a blood-stained cloth on the floor. She gets up, picks up the baby and hugs her lovingly. Years later, a boy is crossing a bridge when he sees Kyoko and her daughter approaching from the other end. The girl's face is covered by her hair and she is holding Kayako's diary. As the boy passes them, he notices something strange about the girl and looks back when he reaches the other end. Just then a train passes under the bridge, and the girl drops the diary and lets go of her mother's hand to look at the train. When the girl runs back to her mother, Kyoko extends her hand for her daughter to hold, but instead, the girl pushes Kyoko down the steps. The boy is shocked and sees the girl glaring at him through her hair so he quickly dashes off. Kyoko is lying at the bottom of the steps, bleeding from the head. The girl walks down and takes the diary from her mother. Kyoko stretches her arm out, holding her scarf, smiling and gesturing to her daughter to embrace her. The girl continues staring at her mother. Kyoko finally weakens and dies. The girl only walks away with the diary. Continuity *The dark stain Megumi and Kyoko see on the floor was caused after Kayako's corpse was placed there by Takeo. *Chiharu is a remaining schoolgirl from the previous installment. *Keisuke finds a picture of Kazumi and Katsuya, deceased owners of the cursed house. *The news reports collected by Kyoko and Keisuke confirm that Toshio was reported missing after the murders. *The ending's bridge was first seen in Ju-on: The Curse. Notes and trivia *The last Ju-on installment written and directed by Takashi Shimizu. It is followed by the 2014 reboot The Beginning of the End. **''The Beginning of the End'' is titled Ju-on 3 in some countries, even though it does not continue from the events of this film. *It is currently unclear if Kayako and Toshio's rebirth ended the grudge curse. *In the reports Kyoko and Keisuke collect, Kayako is picutred without bangs and with a shorter hair, differently from the previous installments and her look in the kitchen memory in this film. *The first Ju-on film in which Takeo does not appear. He is, however, pictured in the news report Kyoko reads. *The first Ju-on film to feature deaths under Kayako's trademark dark hair. This receives much more prominence in the american film series. *Toshio's ghost "plays" with Noritaka's hanged corpse, which is referenced in Takeo's demise in The Grudge. *Kayako as a little girl strongly resembles Sadako Yamamura/Samara Morgan from Ringu/''The Ring films. Novelization A novel titled ''Ju-on 2 written by Kei Ohisi was released in 2003, which elaborates on the events from Ju-on: The Grudge 2. ''It follows the first novel which for its time is a novelization of ''Ju-on: The Grudge. It was released by Kadokawa in Japan. Gallery 4.jpg|USA DVD edition. O Grito 4.jpg|Region - 2 DVD cover (Brazil) Ju-mLRxdJq1sxOR2CTthwQXOcA.jpg|Japanese edition of the Ju-on 2 novel. References Category:Ju-on films